Related papers: Explosive X-point collapse in relativistic magneti…
Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important magnetic energy conversion processes observed in laboratory and space plasmas. It describes the breaking and joining of magnetic field lines, leading to the release of magnetic energy and…
The well known Crab Nebula is at the center of the SN1054 supernova remnant. It consists of a rotationally-powered pulsar interacting with a surrounding nebula through a relativistic particle wind. The emissions originating from the pulsar…
We investigate guide-field magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in relativistic pair plasmas with three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a kinetic-scale current sheet in a periodic geometry at low magnetizations.…
The {\gamma}-ray flares from the Crab nebula observed by AGILE and Fermi-LAT reaching GeV energies and lasting several days challenge the standard models for particle acceleration in pulsar wind nebulae, because the radiating electrons have…
The linear and nonlinear evolution of magnetic reconnection in collisionless high-temperature plasmas with a strong guide field is analyzed on the basis of a two-dimensional gyrofluid model. The linear growth rate of the reconnecting…
The origin of extremely fast variability is one of the long-standing questions in the gamma-ray astronomy of blazars. While many models explain the slower, lower energy variability, they cannot easily account for such fast flares reaching…
A mechanism for fast magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is studied for understanding sawtooth collapse in tokamak discharges. Nonlinear growth of the tearing mode driven by electron inertia is analytically estimated by invoking…
Magnetic reconnection plays a crucial role in large dissipative events in space plasmas, such as solar flares and geomagnetic substorms, but there has been much confusion regarding reconnection onset responsible for the explosive events.…
After discussion of observational constraints on the nature of the MHD wind coupling between the Crab Pulsar and the Crab Nebula, the theory of transverse relativistic shock structure is reviewed and applied to the interpretation of the…
We conduct a multiparametric study of driven magnetic reconnection relevant to recent experiments on colliding magnetized laser produced plasmas using particle-in-cell simulations. Varying the background plasma density, plasma resistivity,…
Energy dissipation in collisionless plasmas is one of the most outstanding open questions in plasma physics. Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two phenomena that can produce the conditions for energy dissipation. These two phenomena…
Fast magnetic reconnection powers explosive events throughout the universe, from gamma-ray bursts to solar flares. Despite its importance, the onset of astrophysical fast reconnection is the subject of intense debate and remains an open…
The ~400 MeV flaring emission from the Crab Nebula is naturally explained as the result of an abrupt reduction in the mass-loading of the pulsar wind. Very few particles are then available to carry the current required to maintain wave…
We investigate the distribution of particle acceleration sites, independently of the actual acceleration mechanism, during plasmoid-dominated, relativistic collisionless magnetic reconnection by analyzing the results of a particle-in-cell…
We present preliminary results of particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless magnetic reconnection for conditions that apply to magnetically dominated pair plasma jets such as those in gamma-ray bursts. We find similar behaviour to…
Null collapse is an implosive process whereby MHD waves focus their energy in the vicinity of a null point, forming a current sheet and initiating magnetic reconnection. We consider, for the first time, the case of collapsing 3D magnetic…
Rapid and luminous flares of non-thermal radiation observed in blazars require an efficient mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration in relativistic active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Particle acceleration in relativistic…
Magnetic reconnection can power spectacular high-energy astrophysical phenomena by producing non-thermal energy distributions in highly magnetized regions around compact objects. By means of two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell…
This review discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection, a process in which the magnetic field topology changes and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, in pair plasmas in the relativistic regime. We focus on recent progress…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental mechanism of driving eruptive phenomena of different scales and may be coupled with turbulence as suggested by recent remote-sensing and in-situ observations. However, the specific physics behind the…